Ultimate Fighting Championship

UFC 207 Dominick Cruz vs Cody Garbrandt: Touching The Untouchable

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:46 p.m. ET

Fansided, Harry Davies/FanSided via Cage Pages

As if UFC 207 wasn’t strong enough, the card sees yet another title fight as Dominick Cruz takes on rising star Cody Garbrandt for the bantamweight championship.

Some may rank him above Demetrious Johnson as the P4P king, some may rank him below, but Dominick Cruz has a story and skill set like no-other who has ever competed in the UFC. An injury list that is off the charts, his ideology of ‘ring-rust’ being a myth and instead it’s all down to the individual’s work ethic is what separates Cruz from the ordinary competitor.

The rivalry between ‘The Dominator’ and Team Alpha Male is only burning hotter. It’s out with the old, and in with the new, as Urijah Faber’s recent retirement from MMA has the veteran’s protégé Cody Garbrandt foaming at the mouth for his chance to get his hands on Cruz (or at least try too.)

Garbrandt is known for his impressive finishing rate at 135-pounds. Since turning pro in 2012, Cody ‘No-Love’ is 10-0 in his young MMA career, with an impressive nine of those coming by way of TKO/KO. Recently dispatching both hot prospect Thomas Almeida and the experienced Takeya Mizugaki in the first round.

The Conservative Warfare of Cruz

The biting, condescending ‘truth-talking’ of Dominick Cruz doesn’t follow the same principles as the likes of Conor McGregor when verbally engaging with their opponents. Whereas the Irishman takes the abusive ‘hype-the-fight’ approach, Cruz dissects his opponent to the pip and reminds them that regardless of their previous accomplishments, they don’t deserve to be in the cage with him.

His fighting mimics his talking. Cruz hits you, then you try to hit him back and end up hitting shadows looking stupid in the process. Pivots, shuffles, and slips, no-one has even come close to decoding the unorthodox style that Cruz bewilders his opponents with.

A consensus of ‘leg-kicks will be his kryptonite’ was debunked in his title win over TJ Dillashaw. Lead leg kicks from Dillashaw were effortlessly caught by Cruz, causing TJ to be off-balance and Cruz to either attempt the takedown or land an overhand right.

In that fight, Cruz would (intentionally) back himself against the fence. A textbook error, surely? Not on Cruz’s terms. Baiting Dillashaw into an onslaught, Cruz used his offense as a form of defense. Rear uppercut, left jab then crouching and pivoting out landing a right hook in the process. The purest form of to hit and not be hit.

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The Gifted Fists of Garbrandt

Garbrandt can’t be predictable in his strikes when fighting Cruz. A left jab to right straight may have been the foundation of his consecutive knockout finishes, but in all fairness, they were against opponents who are nowhere near Cruz’s level. Incorporating the element of surprise into his attacks will not only keep Dom guessing but increase Garbrandt’s chance of actually landing shots, something which many have struggled to do when facing Cruz.

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Due to Cody’s extensive boxing roots and his fights ending relatively quickly, we haven’t seen much at all in terms of his clinch and ground game, so we have to assume Cruz has the edge in both of these departments.

One thing we will probably see in this fight is Garbrandt’s takedown defense. With the experienced fight IQ Cruz has, it would make sense that he tests the wrestling of ‘No Love’ also taking away the threat of his knockout power at the same time.

Although it’s highly unlikely that Garbrandt will try to take Cruz down, it would be a valuable asset for him to use in the fight. Going back to the way Cody can win this title, by keeping Cruz guessing, any takedown attempts may completely shock Cruz and will help Garbrandt in mixing up his strikes with feints and takedowns.

If Cody ‘No Love’ manages to pull off the upset, he most definitely takes Michael Bisping’s place as the biggest underdog to win a UFC title in 2016. The key to his success lies within the power of fists, however as Cruz famously told Dillashaw before their fight ‘power doesn’t mean nothing, if you can’t hit something.’